UK votes in favour of Brexit as Leave campaign leads

London, June 24: The Leave campaign was leading in the crucial referendum on whether the UK would remain in the European Union (EU) or leave after over 70 per cent of the results were declared.

The Leave campaign was leading with over 51 per cent of the votes as against the Remain campaign's 48.6 per cent though the final call was still too close to make.

Both the pro- and anti-exit camps have bagged more than 10,000 million votes while the required figure is 16.3 million.

The Leave's lead saw the Pound falling to $1.39---a significant 9.25% drop as $1.40 has been the floor for the British currency since the mid-1980s.

The morning, however, did not show the day. The first result of the referendum came from Gibralter where an overwhelming 96 per cent voted to remain in the EU. The first results from England came from Newcaste Upon Tyne where the Remain camp though won but the difference was wafer thin. While 50.7 per cent voted to stay in the EU, 49.3 per cent voted to exit.

Orkney, too, supported in favour of the stay.

But the script changed once the results from Northeast England started to pour in. Sunderland, Hartlepool, Basildon, Kettering, Broxbourne, Swindon and South Tyneside voted highly in favour of exiting, according to the BBC.

Remain was leading in London, Scotland and Northern Ireland while Leave was leading in Wales. The referendum saw a high voter turnout at around 70 per cent, which is more than compared to other elections in the country.

The referendum is not legally binding and the British Parliament would still have to repeal the 1972 act under which the UK had joined the EU.